USA > Mississippi > Hinds County > History of Hinds County, Mississippi, 1821-1922 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
₣ 347 . H5 R8 Copy 1
History of Hinds County Mississippi 22 1821 -- 1922
27081
Published in commemoration of the centenary of the City of Jackson, the capital of the State.
1821-22 - 1922
By Mrs. Dunbar Rowland (Eron O. Rowland)
With the compliments of the MISSISSIPPI HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Dunbar Rowland, Secretary.
The Capitol, Jackson, Mississippi, March 22, 1922.
History of Hinds County Mississippi
1821 -- 1922
Published in commemoration of the centenary of the City of Jackson, the capital of the State.
1821- 22-1922
By Mrs. Dunbar Rowland (Eron O. Rowland) ( Twoore)
JONES PTG. CO. JACKSON, MISS
(
F344 H5T 8
Dedicated to Anne Mims Wright (Mrs. William R.) and to the men and women of the city of Jackson and of Hinds county whose interest in the preservation of the history of their State has been an inspiration to the author.
PREFACE
This history of Hinds county is one of the entire num- ber of histories of the counties of Mississippi that the His- torical Society has undertaken to prepare for its readers. The more advanced States have many volumes devoted to county history. With a few exceptions careful histories of Mississippi counties have not as yet been prepared, and in this collection the author has endeavored to lay the foun- dation for all writers who come after to build upon. The publication of the history of Hinds county where the State capital is located seems at this time, when the city of Jackson is contemplating a celebration of its one hundredth anniversary, eminently fitting. In fact both the city and county could well celebrate together, as scarcely a year intervenes between their legislative natal days, the county having been established February 12, 1821, and the city November 28, 1821.
This work has received the commendation of the Secre- tary and other members of the Historical Society. Still, as Roosevelt has observed in other phrasing is his history, "The Naval War of 1812" covering Jackson's Coast cam- paign against the British, 1813-15, where there are so many opinions perfect history is not possible. The author, how- ever, has striven to present the important events that helped to make the history of the county and believes that the subject has been treated with a fair degree of accuracy. If any important incidents have been overlooked she will gladly receive such information for future use.
HINDS COUNTY
Chapter I
Though not as old as the counties formed from the Natchez District, which was partly settled when the coun- try was a colonial possession, Hinds County, nevertheless, has a history of great importance in the annals of Mis- sissippi. Situated in the west-central section of the state, it originally included a region which had long been a center of much speculative interest, since it was territory greatly desired by the national government, and also by the people of the new state of Mississippi. George Poindexter, then governor of the state, having become intensely interested in acquiring this large area of land, exerted himself in every possible manner in bringing about an understanding with the Choctaw Indians, looking to a treaty ceding it to the United States. In 1820 Congress appropriated $20,000 for the expenses of the treaty, and the Mississippi delegation in Congress had proposed that Generals Andrew Jackson and Thomas Hinds be selected to negotiate a treaty with the Indians. In accepting, General Jackson said he did so be- cause he could refuse neither President Monroe nor Mis- sissippi.
While Jackson and Hinds were both influential with the Choctaws, no farther back than the preceding April, when the former with Colonels John McKee and Daniel Burnet had received a commission from the governor to treat with the Indians, he had been met with the reply from Pushmat- aha and Mushula-Tubbee, Indian chiefs, that they were very sorry they could not comply with the request of the Great Father. "We wish to remain here," said the great chief- tains, "where we have grown up as the herbs of the woods, and do not wish to be transplanted to another soil. These of our people who are over the Mississippi did not go there with the consent of the nation; they are considered as strangers, they are like wolves." This chief affirmed that they were quite willing to have them ordered back. "I am well ac- quainted with the country contemplated for us," said
- 6 -
Pushmataha, "I have often had my feet bruised there by the rough land." They had decided that they had no land to spare. If a man gave half his garment, the other half would be of no use to him. "When we had land to spare, we gave it with very little talk to the commissioners you sent to us at Tombigbee, as children ought to do to the father." They hoped for the continued protection of their father. "When a child wakes in the night," he eloquently continued, "he feels for the arms of his father to shield him from danger."
The commissioners were sorely disappointed by the re- sult. They had been certain that the Six Towns were ready to move, and believed that only a few half-breeds had made trouble. But the Indians were, at the same time, endeav- oring to raise money to send a delegation to Washington for the purpose of retaining their lands.
However, the varied influences brought to bear made them consent to a discussion of the treaty, and after many talks and conferences in which everything possible was said to encourage them to join their kindred who had mi- grated to the territory alloted them in the West, the ces- sion took place in October, 1820, at Doak's Stand. The most distinguished chiefs of the Choctaw Nation met the American commissioners, General Andrew Jackson, and General Thomas Hinds-the former an envoy of the Na- tional government and the latter a representative of the State of Mississippi, in what they designated the Council Square. These treaties were usually attended with much pomp and ceremony on the part of the Indians, and it is stated that Generals Jackson and Hinds appeared at the council in the full uniform of generals of the United States Army. The Indians were still represented by the cele- brated medal chieftains, Pushmataha and Mushula-Tubbee, both of whom were on the best terms with' the American plenipotentiaries and full of admiration for the military honors they had won in expelling the British from the south- ern coast in the War of 1812. Jackson, with his usual sa- gacity, decided what "chord" he declared he meant "to
-7 -
touch," and asked that he be authorized to show the Choc- taws the actual bounds of the new land where they were to be perpetuated as a nation. The government had authoriz- ed a promise of a portion of the Quapaw cession in the Ar- kansas Territory. John Pitchlyn and his son, the former an official United States interpreter, were crafty abettors of the treaty and represented to Jackson that Pushmataha and Mushula-Tubbee were now delighted to meet him.
The Encyclopedia of Mississippi History contains the following account of the memorable treaty, which is given in full on account of its importance in the early history of not only Hinds county, but of so many other counties which have been carved out of it:
"The great council was called to meet October 1st, at a council ground on the Natchez Trace, (between Natchez and Tennessee), near Doak's Stand, a tavern about four miles north of Pearl River in what is now the southeast corner of Madison county. William Eastin was appointed commissary and Samuel R. Overton secretary, and Jackson and suite set out from Nashville September 14, 1820, reach- ing Doak's Stand on the 28th, where they were joined two days later by Hinds and McKee and a squad of soldiers under Lieut. Graham. The commissioners removed to the treaty ground, about half a mile below Doak's, October 2, and a few Indians came in that evening. There was soon evidence that some white men and half breeds had formed a combination to prevent a treaty and Jackson and Hinds sent out a talk urging the nation that they must come and hear the talk from their father or he might never speak again.
"Puchshenubbee and his men were particularly offish. Mushula-Tubbee was on hand, but with few followers. Gradually a better feeling grew, and after a great ball game, October 9, the talk was begun. Three formal talks were made by General Jackson; the Indians were in long and confused deliberation by themselves, and finally on the 18th of October, 1820, the treaty prepared by Jackson was accepted and signed by the mingoes, headmen and war-
- 8 -
riors present. The old chief Puchshenubbee was the last to yield, and an attempt was made by some of his people to depose him. 'Donations' of $500 each were made to him and the other two mingoes and John Pitchlyn, and smaller amounts to others of influence, amounting to $4,675, of which the ball players got only $8. October 22, Jackson and his party started on the return to Nashville.
"The treaty was made, as appears from the preamble, to promote the civilization of the Choctaws by the estab- lishment of schools, and to perpetuate them as a nation by exchange of a part of their land for a country beyond the Mississippi. The nation ceded all within the following limits : 'Beginning on the Choctaw boundary east of Pearl river, at a point due south of the White Oak Spring, on the old Indian path; thence north to said spring; thence north- wardly to a black oak standing on the Natchez road, about four poles eastwardly from Doak's fence, marked A. J. and blazed, with two large pines and a black oak standing near thereto and marked as pointers; thence a straight line to the head of Black creek or Bogue Loosa ; thence down Black creek to a small lake; thence a direct course so as to strike the Mississippi one mile below the mouth of the Arkansas river ; thence down the Mississippi to our boundary ; thence round and along the same to the beginning.' Roughly speaking, this is the west half of the middle third of the State, including the south part of the Yazoo Delta, estimated at 5,500,000 acres in all. In consideration the United States ceded to the Choctaws a region in the west. The Cherokees had already been traded lands in that quarter, and the Choctaw east line was to run from their corner on the Arkansas river to a point three miles below the mouth of Little river on the Red. West of this the Choctaw do- main would extend, between the Red and Canadian, to the source of the latter. It was provided that the boundaries established 'shall remain without alteration, until the period at which said nation shall become so civilized and enlightened as to be made citizens of the United States; and congress shall lay off a limited parcel of land for the benefit of each family or individual in the nation.' Aid
- 9 -
was to be given poor Indians who wished to move; and an agent, and other assistance provided in the west; fifty- four sections (square miles) were to be laid off in the Mississippi land ceded, to be sold to raise a fund for the sup- port of Choctaw schools on both sides of the Mississippi river; there was another reservation promised to make up for the appropriation by some of the chiefs of the $6,000 education annuity for the past sixteen years. All who had separate settlements, within the area ceded, might remain as owners of one mile square, or sell at full appraised value; compensation was to be made for buildings; the warriors were to be paid for their services at Pensacola; $200 was promised each district for the support of a police; Mushula- Tubbee was guaranteed an annuity the same as had been paid his father.
"At the next session of congress, $65,000 was appro- priated to carry this treaty into effect, and in March, 1821, John C. Calhoun, the secretary of war, notified the Choctaw agent at that time, Maj. William Ward, that he was to superintend the emigration of the Indians. Blankets, rifles and other necessaries, for 500 were sent to Natchez. Edmund Folsom, interpreter for the Six Towns, had been selected by Jackson and Hinds to collect those who were willing to go, and conduct them to the promised land. Henry D. Downs, of Warren county, was appointed to survey the land in the west, and he reported in December, that he had run the east line of the tract.
"As soon as the treaty of Doak's Stand became known in Arkansas a great protest was made. Congress yielded to it and diverted the appropriation of $65,000 to the mak- ing of a new treaty to change the line to one due south from the southwest corner of Missouri. This had hardly been done, when Arkansas asked a further extension, and an act was passed to move the line forty miles west. But the Choctaws stood firmly on the treaty Jackson had made, and the result was the treaty of Washington in 1825."
Claiborne has characterized the southern Indian as a born politician and diplomat, but little in his dealings with
- 10 -
the white people in parting with his lands gives any sub- stantial proof that he possessed these accomplishments so characteristic of a ripe if not an over-ripe civilization. Not- withstanding his fierce and cruel nature, others have repre- sented him as a weak and credulous creature, but there was not so much of the credulous in him as the thoughtless might suppose. While yielding when insidiously and per- sistently flattered with what seemed a childish weakness, he was in truth critical and resentful and nursed a grievance for the wrongs he endured from the white people, traits that are born of too much sincerity for the making of good politicians and diplomats.
The treaty of Doak's Stand and the removal of the In- dians to the west, the latter undertaking having been placed in the hands of Maj. William Ward, met with much approval by the people of Mississippi, and everywhere in the older southern states an intense interest was manifested in the new territory open for purchase and population. With its succession of dark, level, prairies, rich valleys and heavi- ly timbered tracts of valuable woods, it held out rare in- ducements not only to the younger sons of the large planters of the older southern states, but to the wealthy planters of Mississippi. Sensible of its debt of gratitude to the com- missioners who had treated with the Indians so success- fully, the legislature which convened the following Febru- ary, 1821, passed the following resolution :
"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi, in General Assembly convened, that the thanks of the General Assembly of this state be presented to Major-General Andrew Jackson and our dis- tinguished fellow-citizen, Major-General Thomas Hinds, commissioners plenipotentiary on the part of the United States to treat with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, for their patriotic and indefatigable exertions in effecting a treaty with the said tribe of Indians, whereby their claim has been extinguished to a large portion of land within this state."
The newly acquired territory was still without a name and the legislature at the same session on February 12, 1821,
- 11 -
passed an act declaring that "all that tract of land ceded to the United States by the Choctaw Nation of Indians on the 18th day of October, 1820, and bounded as above stated, shall be and is hereby directed and established into a new county, which shall be called and known by the name of Hinds," in honor of General Thomas Hinds, one of the heroes in Jack- son's Coast Campaign against the British in 1813-15. After conferring upon it one of the most honored names of the state, the act placed the new county of Hinds in the then First Judicial District. On February 12th, 1821, an act was passed authorizing Governor Poindexter to issue a
proclamation "ordering and directing the election of a sheriff and coroner for the county of Hinds." In this man- ner the large county which was so often styled "the Mother of Counties" began its existence. Provided with a govern- ment and endowed with all the necessary rights for func- tioning, the new county lacked only numbers in her popu- lation, the remaining Indians taking no part in the affairs of the state. The pleasant and beautiful region, so well suited to agriculture, was rapidly settled by a wealthy slave-holding class, and in the more hilly districts and pine forests a class of small farmers.
By January 21, 1823, the legislature saw fit to create Yazoo County out of Hinds, and by the same act the county of Copiah, embracing what are now Copiah and Simpson Counties and a part of Lincoln County. A little later, Feb- ruary 4, 1828, Rankin County was created from that part of Hinds County then lying east of Pearl River. And again Hinds County on February 5th, 1829, surrend- ered the fractional township 7 in ranges 2 and 3 to be at- tached to Madison County, which was carved out of Yazoo County. These townships were long thereafter called the "Stolen townships," because the act excising them from Hinds County was rushed through the legislature by the representatives of Madison County in the absence of the representatives from Hinds county. The several large counties mentioned, created from the original territory of Hinds, gave of their area for the formation of numerous other newer counties.
- 12 -
When Mississippi was admitted as a State in 1817, the question of the location of the capital was a troublesome one. Washington and Natchez, the old capitals, were con- sidered too far from the center of the State; other towns were anxious to have the capital located in their midst. It was temporarily arranged that Columbia should be the seat of government; at the same time it was decided that a per- manent capital should be located near the center of the State. In 1821, the legislature, which met in the court- house at Columbia, Marion county, appointed commission- ers to select such a place. Touching the important early history of the capital, the following extract from the En- cyclopedia of Mississippi History will be found interesting: "The Choctaw cession of 1820 provided a central re- . gion, and by act of the legislature of February 12, 1821, Thomas Hinds, James Patton and William Lattimore were appointed commissioners to locate within twenty miles of the true center of the state the two sections of land which congress had donated for a seat of government.
"Major Freeman, the suveyor, estimated that the cen- ter of the State was close to Doak's Stand on the Natchez- Tennessee road and Choctaw line, in what is now Madison county. Hinds and Lattimore, accompanied by Middleton Mackay, guide and interpreter, set out from Columbia for that spot November 12. They visited Yellow Bluff, but found it objectionable, and decided there was no desirable place on the Big Black or anywhere within the limits set by the legislature. So they returned to LeFleur's Bluff, ten miles south of the Choctaw agency. They had passed this bluff going up and were satisfied by the beautiful emin- ence north of and continuous with the bluff, falling east- wardly into an extensive and fertile flat, and continued by high, rolling land on the west. A never-failing spring of pure water in front of the eminence and the good water of the creek, the fertile soil, abundant timber, and evidently healthful air, added to the attractions. The river was navigable-a keel boat had gone up beyond the bluff several times, the school section of the township was within a mile of the eminence, and the fact that it was thirty-five miles
- 13 -
south of the center was only a recommendation to the pres- ent population. In their report to the legislature, Novem- ber 20, 1821, they suggested that this was a favorable time for the experiment of a town on the 'checker-board plan' as suggested by President Jefferson to Governor Claiborne, seventeen years before, i. e., the alternate squares to be parks. The original manuscript map of Jackson' made by P. A. Vandorn, now on file in the Department of Archives and History, follows that plan. On November 28, 1821, the legislature ratified the choice, and authorized Hinds, Latti- more and Peter A. Vandorn, commissioners, to locate two ad- joining half sections, and lay off a town, to be named Jackson, in honor of Major-General Andrew Jackson. To this site the offices were ordered removed by the fourth Monday of November 1822, when the legislature should meet at the new capital. In April following, (1822), Abraham Defrance, of Washington, superintendent of public buildings, re- paired to the site, to begin operations, and he was soon followed by the three commissioners, accom- panied by a number of prospective settlers. The town was laid off, with Capital green, Court green and College green parks, and various reservations, and only ten lots were offered for sale, the purchasers agreeing to build log or frame houses by November. Among the settlers were Lieut-Governor Dickson, who was appointed postmaster in October; Joseph Winn and Maj. Jones. B. M. Hines contracted to build a State house of brick, two stories high, 40 by 30, to be completed October 15, for $3,500. The clay for brick and limestone for lime were found close at hand. There was an advertisement of 100 lots to be sold January, 1823. G. B. Crutcher started The Pearl River Gazette, and Peter Isler the State Register,1 which were the first newspapers published at the State capital.
"In 1829 the senate passed a bill to remove the capital to Clinton, but it was defeated in the house by a tie vote. The proposition was renewed in 1830, and the house voted, 18 to 17, to move to Port Gibson, but immediately recon-
1. See Encyclopedia of Mississippi History, Leake's Administration.
- 14 -
sidered the vote, on motion of M. Haile, and next day passed the bill for removal, with Vicksburg as the lucky town, by a vote of 20 to 16. No change was made, however. In the same year H. Billingsley, H. Long, Samuel U. Puckett, Daniel Wafford, William Matthews and Hiram Coffee pro- posed to build on Capitol square at Jackson, a State house to be worth $50,000, for which they would take the entire two sections of land donated by the United States, including the town of Jackson, and the additional land purchased by the State, in lieu of the lots already sold. This would be figured at $20,000 and the State would pay the balance in three annual installments of $10,000. The proposition was not accepted. But a State House, as has been seen, was pro- vided for the capital and the constitutional convention of 1832 was held therein, the constitution establishing the cap- ital at Jackson until the year 1850, after which the legisla- ture was empowered to designate the permanent seat of government."
Time has proved that the commissioners were right in selecting an ideal site for the capital of the state. The fact that it is only thirty-five miles south of the center of the state was greatly in its favor. The first State House built in the new capital was a small two-story building erec- ted on the site that is now occupied by the Harding Building, which belongs to the Baptists of Mississippi. Here the con- stitutional convention was held. It was the first State con- stitution in which the new county of Hinds had participat- ed and its delegates were David Dickson, James Scott, and Vernon Hicks. The reception of General Andrew Jackson in 1828 and the nomination of Robert J. Walker for the United States Senate were other notable events that oc- cured in this building.
After another heated controversy in which Clinton fought strenously for supremacy,1 the capital still re- mained on the banks of Pearl River, having, as has been stated, received the name Jackson in honor of General Andrew Jackson, of whom Mississippians were justly
1. Only one vote, cast by Bailey Peyton in favor of Jackson, deter- mined the contest.
- 15 -
proud. The place before the location of the capital was known as LeFleurs Bluff, Enochs' factory being the site of the trading post of Louis LeFleur. The story of its growth forms a part of this history.
The county of Hinds, as it exists today, has a land sur- face of 847 square miles and is slightly irregular in shape. It is bounded on the north by Yazoo and Madison counties, on the east by Madison and Rankin counties, on the south by Copiah, and on the west by Claiborne and Warren coun- ties.
The now extinct villages of Hamburg, Amsterdam, Antibank, and Auburn P. O., were among the earlier set- tlements in the county. Hamburg, laid out in 1826, had a brief career of only two years. Its site, on the Big Black river, two miles north of the present Alabama & Vicksburg railroad crossing, was too marshy for a perma- nent town. Amsterdam was located on the bluffs two miles above Hamburg, and became a village of importance. Dur- ing high water each year it was visited by steam and keel boats, and was made a port of entry by act of Congress. About 1832 half of its population died of cholera, but the place continued to hold first place in commercial import- ance for several years. Doak's Stand, the old treaty ground, was the first county seat and for a short time Clinton was the county seat. On February 4, 1828, the legislature ordered the election of five commissioners to locate a site for the courthouse, and they were directed to place it in Clinton or within two miles of the center of the county. The center, however, was found within two miles of Raymond and this was marked by a large stone. The following year by act of the Legislature Raymond was made the county seat, its prestige causing the remark that . Raymond was the seat of justice, Clinton, of learning, and Amsterdam, of commerce. Clinton has made good her title, Amsterdam expired beneath the double calamity of an epidemic of cholera and failing to attract the new railroad coming from Vicksburg in her direction, while Raymond still shares the honor of being a seat of justice and many
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.